Armstrong’s RadioShack out of 2010 Giro d’Italia

Lance Armstrong’s RadioShack team will not ride the 2010 Giro d’Italia (May 8-30).

The US-based squad was not included in the list of 22 teams invited to the 2010 Giro, announced by race director Angelo Zomegnan today.

RadioShack did ride Milan-San Remo at the weekend, but it did not race Strade Bianche or Tirreno-Adriatico (both organised by RCS Sport) since the team had told Zomegnan it would skip the Giro to focus on the Tour of California.

Cadel Evans’ BMC Racing Team and the British-based Team Sky have both been invited. Sky will face its first Grand Tour with Bradley Wiggins and Dario Cioni.

Wiggins plans to aim for the race’s opening time trial, an 8.4-kilometre stage in Amsterdam. If he wins, he would be only the second Brit to take the race leader’s pink jersey after Mark Cavendish and could hold it through stage four’s team time trial in Cuneo, Italy.

Wiggins said in December, “I will aim for the prologue in Holland and the time trial in Verona.”

Cavendish’s HTC-Columbia team received an invitation, but Cavendish himself will skip the race to compete in the Tour of California instead. Cavendish said on Friday, “It makes sense, we have American sponsors.”

Russian Denis Menchov announced earlier that he would not return to defend his title, but his Rabobank team will race, bringing for the first time Oscar Freire, winner of San Remo.

Ricco returns to racing at the Coppi & Bartali stage race this week, his first race back after serving a 20-month suspension for using banned blood-boosting drug CERA, a form of EPO, at the 2008 Tour de France. Ceramica Flaminia also failed to receive an invitation to Saturday’s Milan-San Remo.

By next Monday, March 29, all teams must submit 15 names from which their final nine-man teams will be selected.

The reason there are not in the Giro….They are Riding in the Tour of California. They decided along time ago that was the race they were going to do….Giro and California are at the same time….sorry I’ll see them.

Ken Evans

Armstrong probably won’t beat Contador in France.

So why not try to win the Giro for a first time instead ?

Or maybe he doesn’t think he can win this either ?

Mike Lucas

Makes sense.
Armstrong has always made it plain he is only interested in the Tour. So why invite a team that will blatantly only use your race as training.
I hope we can move away from this sad degredation of the racing calendar that has been foisted on the organizers by “Tour only” stars of cycling.

Alberto

Tragic. The most beautiful race in the world won’t miss them. It seems a shame they’ve been invited to the TDF.